Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Obama's Losing Streak

At the time, Obama claimed victory, slapping new taxes on the rich while
protecting George W. Bush’s cuts for everyone else. In retrospect, it
looks more like a missed opportunity than a political or policy triumph.

Instead, it now seems likely that $600 billion in tax increases is all
the new revenue Obama gets. That’s a far cry from the $1.6 trillion he
wants, or even the $1 trillion-plus many Republicans were discussing in
previous grand bargain talks.

Obama thought he would be able to stare down Republicans over the
sequester, and get them to double the size of his tax increase to avoid
heavy defense cuts. He was wrong. Once Republicans swallowed the $600
billion in hikes, they made plain they were done raising taxes for this
Congress. And they really are done, Republicans say.

About Me

I was born in Tombstone, Arizona, but moved to California in 1959 when labor strikes at the copper mines devastated the Arizona economy. I've been moving north ever since. Pullman is as far north as I care to live and I'm looking toward reversing the drift.